


Rain and Lightning

by Kerillian



Series: A Zora's Perseverence [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Cop Sidon AU, Gen, Hylian Prince Sidon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recreational Drug Use, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Shape Shifting Sidon, acab irl btw, holy shit ive been so tired i didnt even notice the title had a typo lmfao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24766546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerillian/pseuds/Kerillian
Summary: Link hides somewhere Sidon won’t like.
Relationships: Link & Prince Sidon, Link/Prince Sidon
Series: A Zora's Perseverence [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1763404
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

Link had been “officially” missing for four days. 

The events of Link’s day to day life outside his existence were not public knowledge, his absence was only known to the Princess’s immediate family, and appointed sections of Hyrule police HQ.

Zelda was rather nonchalant, of course, because the connection between her and Link meant she could feel how strong his life force was, and had approximate knowledge of his whereabouts. 

Sidon could not for the life of him understand the logic. Link could be kidnapped again, and nobody seemed to care enough to help him find him.

Not only was he worried sick, the absolute flack Sidon was having to deal with at HQ put him at his wits end. They were nervous about talking down to him at first, as Sidon could never quite escape his title as a Zoran prince and Zelda’s agent, but they were also constantly looking for ways to take him down a peg. He wouldn’t lie to them in his reports - he hadn’t heard from Link in a week, and for that he was jeered at constantly. Sidon went to Zelda to take it up with her the day Link was officially deemed missing by police, but she assured him there was no need. She felt that Link was thriving and that he would find his way back in good time.

Important as she was, HQ did not care for the princess’s personal guarantee of Link’s wellbeing. What they cared about most was his exact location, and whether or not he was carrying out his special acts of… vigilante justice, Sidon supposed he could call it. 

Regardless of whether or not Link’s victims were deserving of their fate, Sidon would not be able to hold his position of care over the boy for long if he were to just allow him to keep preying on Hyrule’s detritus. 

So there he was again in the castle, imploring an audience with the princess to help track the courageous terror down.

He was granted permission, but Zelda was still irritatingly flippant.

“Truly, I would love to help, but what if you only annoy him by going after him? What happens if he runs further out of your grasp?” She asks him, her eyes fixed to a scroll on her gilded desk.

Sidon rolled his eyes. “With all due respect, princess...”

Zelda’s pen stilled, and her eyes finally fluttered up then stayed fixed on him.

“I know you have the comfort of not having to care when Link hunts down a trafficker and severs a few tendons and vital arteries.” He said. 

“I know you hold back laughter when Link films himself bedding a corrupt politician and sends the footage to the man’s family.”

He saw her smirk.

“You have no stakes in what results from his actions, your divine knowledge has told you that he will simply have to burn himself out of this behaviour, and that is why you are _refusing_ to help me.”

The princess raises a brow and steeples her gloved fingers.

“But I can only cover up so much. I am an agent with special privileges, but there are only so many crime scenes I can halt, and I implore you to think of what it means for my presence in his life if I allow him to brutalise and ruin whoever he pleases with no repercussions.”

Zelda sighs and sits back in her chair.

“I suppose Link has responded better to you than anyone else who has taken charge of him.” She admits.

“Frankly, I’m amazed that he hasn’t gotten you to think with your crotch yet. Well done.”

The Zora sighs, tiring of observations that served no purpose other than to keep him waiting while Link got further away each moment.

“He’s in Faron.” She finally revealed.

Sidon’s whole stance fell in response, and just as he began to cringe, Zelda beckoned him closer to her, pushing her papers aside to reveal the intricate inlay of a map of Hyrule hewn right into her extravagant desk.

Her finger hovered over the region of Faron, and dropped right over what appeared to be sprawling rainforest.

“Around here.”

Sidon winced. Faron’s rainforest meant plentiful storms, storms meant lightning, and lightning did not saddle him with much of that Zora optimism of his.

“Wonderful.” He huffed, tossing his head back.

“You asked, and I delivered.” Zelda told him with a smirk.

Sidon wanted to go home and sleep until Link decided he’d come back, but as he had just implored to Zelda, that wasn’t feasible for him.

“Cheer up. That amulet I gave you is good for more than just tailing him in the darkness. It doesn’t just cast a glamour, it morphs your form. That’s why it hurts when you use it.”

Sidon toyed with the dreadful little thing in a satchel-pocket that hung from his formal garb.

“Theoretically, shock-proofing should actually work on you, since you are no longer physically a Zora when you wear it. Don’t quote me though, I don’t want to be held responsible for the electrocution of Dorephan’s only heir.”

Someone with powers like Zelda’s tended not to only know something in theory, as some forms of knowledge granted to Hylia’s avatar were absolute. But she infamously took pleasure in making people nervous by obfuscating that knowledge. 

“And what happens if he manipulates the magic while I attempt to apprehend him in the midst of a violent storm? Was that an intended effect of your amulet?” Sidon asks her.

“Manipulate it?” Zelda echoed bemusedly, eyes flashing to the embroidered satchel holding the amulet.

“He shouldn’t be able to. That is, unless you’re around him while its magic is still unstable.”

Sidon balked. “How long should I have to wear it for before he stops being able to sabotage it!?”

“I did design it for prolonged periods of contact, Rutela. I assumed you would be waking up next to him at some point.”

He scowled at her, deeper than he would ever dare to in a royal court.

Zelda chuckled.

“Forgive me, Prince. I meant no offence. It is possible to spend a night with someone and not bed them, is it not? It was that type of magic, or a uselessly temporary glamour. I knew which one would be more useful to you.”

“How long do I have to wear it for before he stops being able to make my whole skeleton ache?” Sidon asks testily, in no way pacified by Zelda’s apology for her revolting assumption of his character.

“Give it an hour. A hot bath helps you slide in and out of it more comfortably.” She imparted.

“At any rate, it will be worth getting used to wearing it for longer periods of time than brief contact. When you bring him back, my father may order full-time surveillance after this.”

Sidon wasn’t so perturbed by this prospect. Placing Link in isolation and house arrest every time he grievously injured someone did nothing to abate his violent tendencies. For one reason or another, nobody seemed to be able to apply a more personalised method of managing Link.

He just wished he didn’t have to trek all the way out to Faron for the king to decide it was time to employ such an approach.

“Good luck, beat cop. Get yourself some rain boots with reinforced caps. I’ll personally reimburse you if you show me the receipt.”

Sidon ignored her and bowed before taking his leave, the way he clung to stoicism appearing to provide her with endless amusement as she giggled behind her desk.


	2. Chapter 2

Dragging his feet through swampy pools hidden in vegetation, Sidon allowed himself the comfort of frustration, but would not let it turn into regret.

‘Perk up, Sidon. _You_ are the one who decided not only to be trained as a warrior prince of the Zora tribe, but to temporarily step down from your royal duties and most of your privileges to join Hyrule’s police force and _work for the princess_.’

He had to repeat this to himself more often lately.

Next time someone wanted to mock him for caring too much about his job, he would scrape the buffalo faeces from under his boots and pelt them at his aggressor, and he may not think twice even if it was Zelda.

His father had told him countless times that his sense of justice was a blessing from Nayru herself, one that would forever be remembered and treasured by the Zora tribe - but right now it felt a rather thankless trait to have been cursed with.

What was truly a blessing to him right now was the tip-off he received from a stable - a community hub for the remote inhabitants of Faron’s rainforests and neighbouring beach communities. A talkative merchant had told him of an old couple’s troubles with what they had first feared to be wolves making their buffalo herd nervous.

“Of course, if it was wolves, they’d at least be down a calf, but none have come back with so much as a scratch. So they really don’t know! Mysterious, right? I’ll bet it’s bored teenagers from Lurelin.”

Sidon had to agree with the merchant, though his search for a bored youth from a little further away than Lurelin village granted him with more knowledge than he let on. 

He met with the old ranchers and they echoed the merchant’s suspicions - so all Sidon had to do was show them his badge and a letter of pardon from the Princess, and they were only too happy to let them search their property. It was enough to keep some spring in his step until the rain really started to pour, and at that point it really sunk in with him that the land the couple owned was much larger than he had anticipated.

Taking refuge under a tree, Sidon nervously sipped some shock-proof potion after he heard the first rumblings of thunder.

He would search the clearing nearby, then he would return to the couples’ house and take them up on their generous offer of a spare bed for a night. The overachiever in him kept telling him that while there was light, he should keep looking, but he would get caught out here in the dark if he kept looking too long. 

He was emboldened by stiffer ground under his foot instead of soft sludge, the first of its kind in a long while since he set off in the paddocks. His head held high, he scanned the grass, steadfastly wiping the rain out of his eyes when it dripped down past the plate of his zora helm.

And yet, Sidon’s confidence was met with misfortune. All it took was a rock he didn’t see with that eagle eye of his, and he was eating mud. 

He briefly considered crying for a spell after standing up again, but after wiping the mud off his face with every bit of royal poise he could muster, he turned to look at the sucker that tripped him and realised it was not just a rock.

It was a young Hylian male, lying face-up in the grass next to a rock.

“... Link!” He called, overjoyed to have found him right when his morale really needed him to show up.

He responded with a slow nod of acknowledgement, a smile levelled at him. He was absolutely filthy, soaked through by rain and covered in mud and gods know what. It was through his hair and scuffed on his face, but Sidon swore he had never seen Link look so peaceful since… 

Well, since Mipha was around to show him the pictures she’d taken of him.

It wasn’t very dark outside, but his pupils were massive. When Sidon crouched next to him, the first thing Link did was bat at the fins hanging from his headwear.

It wasn’t until closer inspection that Sidon cottoned on that Link was probably at peace because he wasn’t sober.

Of course. Faron, the rainforest, bovines. Psychoactive mushrooms.

Dilated blue eyes focused on him with unnerving interest. “What’re you...” Link mumbled.

Link talking was a bigger shock to him than anything else about this situation.

“I’m taking you home, Champion.” Sidon said.

Link shook his head. “Nuh-uh.”

“Why not?”

Zelda’s words echoed in Sidon’s head. If he pushed, he might just drive Link away.

“The rain is beautiful. We should stay and watch it.”

Well, Link wasn’t in much danger of running away. Sidon wasn’t a seasoned expert in this field, but Link didn’t look like he wanted to stand up, or crawl.

So what could he do? Carry him on his back and risk getting bitten or licked? 

“Stop that,” Link told him. “You’re killing the mood.”

“Stop what?” Sidon asked him, gesturing outward and unable to guess what it was that Link was talking about.

“Being like _that_. Lie down!”

Though he wasn’t any less confused, Sidon figured it wasn’t the worst thing he could do - his raincoat would protect his body from the mud. So he did as Link said, and stared up into the rain with him.

The light of day began to disappear while Sidon waited, closing his eyes, because they weren’t so invulnerable to raindrops in this Hylian flesh he occupied.

He felt a hand wander over to his, fingertips tracing over his palm.

“That’s not what you really look like.” Link said, his voice soft and neither here, nor there.

“Zelda did something. I know it's her magic, because you go all gooey when I use my magic.”

Sidon turned his head to look at Link, who still stared at the sky. The rain had dissipated some, the storm not quite reaching them for now.

“You’re a Zora.” Link whispered.

“I am.” Sidon told him.

“I thought you were a Zora-wife when I met you. Or a... fish-husband. Yeah… You know the ones. Zelda thought she could trick me with those official fish-fucker clothes. But then you turned up soaking wet on that ship you chased me onto, and I realised something was up.”

Sidon snorted. That night had become less tiring to remember the further he got from it.

“I’ll have you know, I got these clothes fitted myself in the Domain.”

“Well, aren’t you fancy.” Link told him.

Sidon smiled. “The Princess thought it might be easier for us to relate if I took on a Hylian form.”

“That dumb slut must have broken her smarty-pants triangle. That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.” Link chortled, totally incredulous.

Genuine laughter was such a strange sound to hear from him. It shouldn’t have been. Link deserved to laugh like this every day of his life.

“I was babysat by Zora. Why would I be uncomfortable around one?”

Sidon couldn’t help but stare intently even upon the vague mention of his sister.

“You remember her? You remember Mipha?” He asked, sounding more eager than he had meant to let on.

Link looked back at him with sincerity that Sidon was wholly unused to from him.

“... Yeah. I remember Mipha. I… don’t know how I forgot about her.”

Just hearing it vindicated Sidon’s struggle. His sister lived on in the memory of another Champion, someone she was intrinsically connected to, not just a member of the public who still bothered to acknowledge her memory.

But then Link sat up, addled and wobbling, transfixed by the trees around him.

“You know… Ganon’s always gonna be a part of me. We’re always gonna be a part of each other.”

So was the tale of the ancient curse, Sidon had heard.

“But right now, it doesn’t feel so bad. I’m still here to watch the trees sparkle.”

His mood changed slightly.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna feel him inside me until he’s dead, and I’m gonna be the one who has to get rid of him, too.” Link said. 

Sidon had never heard him speak so directly about the issue. Before now, he’d thought Link wanted to erase every notion of the responsibilities the curse had entailed.

“Do you think the ones before me ever had it this shit?” Link asked him.

Sidon recalls his studies of Hyrule’s ancient history, and the notable struggles of the hero throughout the ages. 

“Well… one time, according to legend, Ganon got hold of all three pieces. He ruled Hyrule for quite some time, after that. But you--… the hero-- he came back and set the world right again.”

“Huh. That must have sucked.”

“Indeed. The Zora’s Domain inland had frozen over all the way to Lake Hylia, or so the books say.”

Link pondered for a moment.

“Any of ‘em been kidnapped and tortured and raped and exploited for seven years?”

Sidon’s stomach dropped, startled to hear it all come out of Link’s mouth like that.

“Well...” Sidon mumbled, on edge and terrified he’d just made things worse by comparing Link’s struggles to the ones of his predecessors.

Link snorted next to him. “Sorry. It kinda just flies out sometimes. Not your fault, is it?”

Sidon’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t want to hurt you, is all.”

Link smiled. “Maybe that’s because you’re not really a cop. Most cops can’t wait to hurt me.”

Sidon didn’t really think before he squeezed Link’s hand. It was quick, and he worried he might give the boy the wrong idea. It was more than obvious that plenty of officers had been vile to him in many different ways - it made Sidon’s blood boil. Some of them, _grown men_ with wives and children, fucked him and got away with it without even so much as a slap on the wrist. 

He could squeeze his hand in support and not break any codes of conduct, but rules and guidelines didn’t matter when Link had been conditioned to expect the worst from people who were supposed to take care of him.

Link seemed unperturbed, however, peacefully staring at the darkening clouds.

After a moment, another thought came back to Sidon. 

“You know… it might not be the same by any stretch, but there was once a hero who was transformed into a four-legged beast by powers from another realm. His soul could have been torn from his body, but he was protected by the curse and turned into a divine beast instead.”

Link perked. “Zelda told me about that one. She remembers it, he was-- I was a wolf. She told me it was the best I ever smelled.” 

“I was… going to talk about how he’d had his agency stripped from him, but you seem to know enough about it.” Sidon said through disbelief.

When the rain let up and the stars peeked through the clouds, Sidon wondered if he shouldn’t contact HQ and tell them Link had been located, but he might be a good twelve hours behind schedule in bringing him back to the city.

He’d left his phone back at the ranchers’ house to avoid it getting soaked and broken while he searched. It would be a long walk back, but he had a torch, they could make it.

Sidon finally felt confident again, and he turned back to Link to tell him they were going to set off back to the house and possibly spend the night while he got most of the psychoactive substance out of his system.

Link was stuffing a handful of mushrooms into his mouth.

“For fuck’s sake, Link. _Why_?”

Make that another twenty-four hours.


End file.
